I've spent 10 years across big tech and venture-backed startups, building my career around understanding consumer behavior. I enjoy researching obscure business trends and creating tools that identify patterns others miss.

But I don't just stop at research, I build automation systems that pipe raw data and analytics directly into business processes. I've used these systems to generate leads, run personalized marketing campaigns, and drive tens of millions of views across social media.

I design the workflows, connect the data sources, and build the automation pipelines. I use GitHub Actions, Cloudflare Workers, and n8n to run these systems 24/7. 

email: jd@joedirico.com

Joe DiRico

Most brands spend countless hours creating content - only to feel like no one’s watching.

This frustration comes from showing up online without a clear content strategy, or a system to turn content into clients.

They post sporadically, but:

Struggle to stand out in saturated markets

Waste energy on content that doesn’t move the needle

Stay invisible to the very people they’re trying to reach

How can you grow if no one’s hearing your message?

The cycle continues.

Momentum stalls. Pressure builds.

They start asking: “Should we try ads? Hire another agency? Quit content altogether?”

What they need isn’t more content.

They need a system to turn ideas into trust - and trust into revenue.

That’s exactly what we do at Castos Productions.

We help companies build epic brands through high-leverage video, podcasting, and social content - without burning out your team or betting the farm on unproven tactics.

Here’s our three-part approach:

Nail your strategy: Build a content system aligned with your brand and goals

Create once, distribute everywhere: Turn one asset into dozens

Build a loyal audience that actually converts

You’ll stop guessing and start owning your niche.

Inbound leads go up. Brand equity compounds. Your content starts working.

Message me “content engine” if you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start growing with clarity.

Craig Hewitt

After 8 years of working on Castos all day, every day, we're embarking on a new product.  

Will be sharing what the product is tomorrow, but today I wanted to share a bit about how I chose the direction to go in...cause A LOT has changed about how/why/where to build products in the past few years.  

Firstly, what it CAN'T be: 

- can't be a basic CRUD app - those will be free or get demolished by AI
- can't be Enterprise - I just don't have any desire to sit through eternal sales processes.  for better or worse I like the B2Prosumer space
- can't be too cheap - this is a tough one and honestly where we ended up kinda missing. 
- can't take more than a month to build. I built this entire product in about a month with Claude Code
- can't be mission critical. We're not building the next Stripe here.  Just too much pressure to be that close to customers money

Now, what it NEEDS to be: 

- 'adjacent' to our existing customer base and audience at Castos. Doesn't have to be directly in the podcasting space, but something that our customers/audience at Castos can relate to. I think Basecamp has done a great job at this.
- heavily AI enhanced.  Building non-AI SaaS these days is silly, and i'd never do it
- really sticky: one of the best traits of Castos from a business model perspective is that we have extremely low churn...makes everything about building the business easier. We've built a lot of this into the new product.
- in a growing market.  This is probably the most important.  Rising tides lifts all boats.  We nailed this one.
- Has network effect.  Did pretty good on this one, but not a 10/10.  This is what opens up FREE tiers
- Has a generous Free tier - this is something we intentionally don't have with Castos, and I think can be a big driver of growth. Free users you can market to FOREVER

I had one false start on the path to this new product, and the biggest lesson from it was this: 

+ Love the space you're building in +

I nailed this with Castos 8 years ago...podcasting is such a fun market.  And the new product is in a market I'm even more passionate about. 

On paper everything about this new product lines up so well with what we've already built with Castos, and I can't wait to share it with y'all.

I help companies build epic brands through video on YouTube, audio podcasts, and engaging social content. If you're tired of wondering where your next customers will come from, let's chat.

Ads coming to ChatGPT!!!

This is going to be the biggest marketing opportunity of the decade, if you do it right.  

Here's what you need to know:   

→ Ads will appear for free and Go tier users only  
→ Plus, Pro, and Enterprise users will stay ad-free  
→ Ads will appear at the bottom of responses
→ Ads do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you 
→ Ads will be clearly labeled
→ No user data sold to advertisers  (for now)
→ No ads on sensitive topics (health, politics, mental health)  

Early on in every new marketing channel, there is a huge arbitrage opportunity.  

Remember FB ads from 2014?!  Many people got very rich then.

This could be exactly that same scenario.

(i don't love this for OpenAI though, it signals a very weak position to have to resort to ads to sustain their business model...once again i'd love to short OpenAI)

YouTube is hands down the best content channel for pretty much every brand these days.

It's video, which is tops in terms of format.

It's evergreen (some of my best videos today are from months ago)

It has an element of SEO and an element of algorithmic discovery - best parts of both worlds.

but it's really freaking hard.

My 100 Days Of AI almost killed me.

but i also grew my channel from 250 to 12,000+ subscribers

and along the way I've been pitched brand deals, I got monetized (making thousands in just Adsense revenue alone), and to some I'm not "The AI Guy".

And to consistently publish high quality videos that grow your channel, and resonate with your ideal viewers you need to do 3 things:

1. Come up with great ideas

Doing this from scratch is a fools errand.  All the best creators just "borrow" from what's working on other channels, and even in other niches.  Borrow what's working from a fishing channel on your AI channel - I guarantee the same video formats work across genres.

2. Packaging: Title & Thumbnail are 80% of the success

This used to mean hiring a copywriter and a graphic designer.  No more. We have studied millions of titles and thumbnails, and we know what works.  It's just a matter of adapting winning formulas and psychology to your channel, and your video.  All powered by AI, but of course.

3. Publishing consistently, forever

It's kind of a numbers game. If you publish once a month you're toast. If you go 100 days in a row you'll find some winners, and you'll learn what works and what doesn't.  But piecing together a handful of different tools is crazy - so we built all the best functionality into one place.

Outlier is the new product we at Castos are building, and it's honestly amazing.  I've been using it for my own content for the past few weeks, and got a 1/10 on my first video using it.

https://outlier.so

Outlier helps YouTube creators do these 3 things:

-> Come up with winning video ideas. 

We analyze your channel and different areas of inspiration to give you proven video ideas.

-> Clickworthy Title and Thumbnail. 

This is where YouTube success happens, and most creators are very below average at it.  We deliver incredible creatives, in just a click of a button.

-> Publish consistently, high quality content. 

We've brought the whole workflow together into a cohesive project management system for YouTube.  So you're not piecing together a dozen different tools, AI systems, and apps.

We're opening the early access waitlist today, and can't wait to share it with everyone.

https://outlier.so

Open article: Steal Like a Creator by outlier.so

Outlier dashboard showing video analytics and AI-generated ideas

taplio

The Battle

Joe DiRico

Craig Hewitt

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreCraig Hewitt's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Joe DiRico

Craig Hewitt

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Craig Hewitt's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreCraig Hewitt's LinkedIn Performance